Different means good
by Vikeeta
Summary: Just another way in which Viola could've been discovered. It starts with the Carnival and ends up at the Debutante Ball... Viola is discovered by Illyria guys before the game, but they decide to support her. How will Duke and Viola's relationship grow?
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER I: Carnival!

The message ended with a "beep", leaving Viola in a state of shock.

"Oh, crap! I forgot about that!" she gasped, slapping her forehead.

How could she have forgotten that? It was going to take all her efforts not to be discovered in a place where there were so many people and there was so much going on.

"Wait, your mom's in Junior League?" Duke asked, surprised.

"Yeah, how do you know that?"

"So is mine, I gotta go too!" he exclaimed.

"Ah..." she groaned "I can't deal with this right now, I have soccer to worry about!"

Duke looked a little hurt at the expression on his roommate's friend. Knowing he was going too, couldn't he at least pretend to be a little excited? Or at least not so pessimistic? They were friends, right? They could surely spend some time together and it wouldn't be so boring. Sure, the Junior League parties and carnivals were usually the least exciting, most excruciating events he had to go to, but Toby and Andrew had promised to go, so it was them four after all!

"It's not gonna be that bad" he said, then he added, slightly more enthusiastically: "Olivia's gonna be there! It's the perfect opportunity for me to lay some groundwork!"

"Oh... Olivia's gonna be there" Viola repeated, fully acknowledging for the first time how hard it was going to be for her to pretend to be two people "And my sister, and Monique, and you, and my mom. Great!" she fell on the bed, suddenly overtaken.

She really hated carnivals. She did, ever since she was little and she'd wanted to bungee jump and her mom had forbid it, forever. The guy on duty knew both her and Sebastian, and he was generously bribed each year to avoid the Hastings twins from throwing themselves tied only to a rope. She made a face at him and he answered with a similar gesture.

"Do you know that guy?" Toby asked.

"Yep" Viola answered, rolling her eyes.

"Care to share the tale?" Andrew smiled.

"When Viola and me were ten, we decided to try and bungee jump. The thing is, my sister was about to do it, when suddenly my mom started screaming and crying and making a scene. She told that guy to never let us on again, and she pays him every damn year to prevent that from happening again" she explained easily. Actually, she'd imitated the way Sebastian usually explained it to the people around him so it turned out pretty convincing. She didn't even stutter.

"You're almost seventeen. Does that apply even now?"

"I know Viola's gonna try it this year, as she always does" she assured them.

Duke was getting curious about Viola. She seemed different from her brother, almost like another type of rebel, like she wanted to be anything but the lady her mother wished her to be.

Olivia appeared then, and Duke forgot his line of thought. As soon as he saw her, his mind went totally blank. It should be forbidden to be as hot as she was. Just look at that gorgeous blonde hair... those light eyes, the face...

"I'm working at the kissing booth. See you there?"

The information wasn't directed towards him, but that didn't matter. Kiss! He'd pay everything he had if he could get one single kiss from Olivia.

"Where are you going?"

Duke realized he'd started to follow Olivia like a zombi. He turned around briefly.

"Where do you think I'm going?"

Viola saw Monique in her aquamarine dress and the alarm sign shot inside her mind. No chance! She gave a quick excuse to Toby and Andrew and ran into the first cubicle she could to change. The dress Yvonne had picked out for her was just perfect: red, like the color of Illyria, not too movement-limiting and the right amount of rack showing. She didn't want to look like a slut. She mentally made a note to thank her amazing friends when she saw them, because she would probably need their help to pull of what she had to do off.

The faces of the people who had seen her go in as a boy and exit as a girl clearly stated that either they believed she was on meds or they just had a very weird hallucination.

Viola ran to the tent where her mother, dressed up in her fancy skirt and jacket, greeted her with sugary sweet words and stupid statements about her being excited for being a debutante. She played along, but just when she was about to get some peace, her mother told her to warn her brother and to run the next shift at the kissing booth. Great! Kissing!

As she went out, she stampeded on a woman, and then on a guy... as she lifted her eyes, her apologize froze... Duke! If he discovered her, she was done for. And surely enough, he creased his eyebrows and asked:

"Wait... do I know you?"

"No" the voice came out false and high pitched, perfectly coordinated to how she was feeling.

She turned around to run the other way, and Duke half made the move of following her.

Duke felt someone slamming into his chest. He looked down to find a pretty girl beginning to apologize, but upon seeing her the `sorry` smile died on her lips and her eyes widened. Eyes the color of the sea... round eyes, expressive eyes... beautiful eyes... where had he seen them before? They were incredibly familiar... as if he lived with them everyday, yet he didn't exactly know from where.

"Wait... do I know you?"

The girl's face now showed despair and... fear? Was that a twinkle of fear on the left corner of her greenish eyes? Why would she be afraid? Was she hiding something?

"No" the voice came out wrong, even he could hear.

She quickly turned around and ran in the other direction. He made he attempt of following her, but changed his mind and started marching towards the kissing booth. Who knew at what time was Olivia's turn? Would this strange girl have a turn too... Wait! Wake up, Duke, she's just somebody you ran into, you don't really know her...

Viola felt two strong arms holding her back and she turned to look into the cocky face of Justin Dreyton.

"Hey, Viola! I've been calling and calling! We need to talk!" he exclaimed, happy to see her.

"Justin, we already talked, all the talking is done!" she answered angrily.

"Come on... don't be like that because of a stupid soccer issue... can't you be a girl for five seconds?" he groaned half-joking.

"Five seconds? Okay! First of all it's not a stupid soccer issue and you're a jerk! Oh, look at that" she added with a mocking voice "time's up "and she slapped him right across the cheek.

Duke was waiting in line. He was nervous. Very nervous. He had kissed a girl before, yeah, but... why did he keep thinking about that other girl, the one he bumped into before? He saw Olivia with a pained expression as a dorky looking kid stayed for one second too long with his lips stuck to hers. She started to hyperventilate.

Olivia couldn't hold her breath much longer. The lips she had right now against hers were little less than awful... sticky from sugar candy and liquorice... please... somebody save her... and next was Duke... please, no! Anything but kissing the jock! Please! She felt immense relief as the next girl placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to thank her savior but found something oddly strange with this girl. As if she'd known her from before. As if she was somebody else.

"Do I know you?"

Viola's voice came out just as it had come out when she'd answered that same question phrased by Duke.

"No"

And ironically enough, he was standing right there, with a pained expression on his face... a deeply desperate expression. How could... ugh! That was just bad timing!

"I can't catch a break" he groaned.

Duke saw the girl's face grow a little offended and tried to mend it. Then the child behind him said something and that made him even more nervous. Oh! This was... he closed in to kiss her, and found her lips soft and delicious... a jolt of pleasure was sent through his body, almost like it'd been expecting this, with this girl exactly. But that was just plain stupid... he didn't know this girl... did he?

"I think that was worth one ticket" he said, without really opening his eyes.

She seemed to be in the same state because she closed in again.

It was the way her mouth moved, the way it was perfectly synchronized with his... until a strong hand pulled her back.

"Viola, what the hell is this!" exclaimed a voice he knew and hated all too well "Sorry, Dufus... you're making out with my girlfriend!"

"Ex-girlfriend" she pointed out.

Duke flipped.

"Wow... you're... you're Sebastian's sister?"

He couldn't believe it! Of course her eyes were so obviously familiar, because they were his roommate's too! Now it made sense! For a second, he thought, he might have been rooming with a girl for a week without having noticed.

"And you're about to die!" exclaimed Justin, slapping his chest.

"What are you gonna do, drown me in your tears?" he snorted.

"I did not cry during that game, I had something in my eye" he answered back, embarrassed.

Viola saw the testosterone filled environment and tried to push them back. Didn't work. Justin was too much the possessive jerk to let her snogging someone else go undeterred. And he hated the guy to the guts... excellent! Result: they both got expelled from the carnival... and she had to say with her mother for the rest of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER II: Shower girl

Duke watched as his roommate open the door and walk into the dorm, a soccer ball in his hand. His eyes went wide with alarm when he saw what he had used to absorb the blood. He flinched a little. Justin was a jerk, but his punches sure were strong!

"Oh my God!" Sebastian choked.

"Yeah, I used one of your... yeah... you know..." Duke couldn't bring himself around to saying the word `tampon` "And you were right, these things actually work"

He didn't miss Sebastian rolling his eyes. _Green eyes_. Like Viola's.

"So what happened?" Sebastian asked, a little forcefully.

"I got into a fight... with your sister's ex"

"Why?"

Duke blushed deeply. How could he tell his roommate that his sister and him had been... snogging publicly in front of a whole crowd... Sebastian would flip and punch him. But there was really no way around it so he took in a large gulp of air and answered:

"He saw her and me... kinda making out at the kissing booth"

"Wait... you kissed her?"

Duke didn't miss how strangely he reacted to the information. It was like he already knew but was trying to hide it. Sebastian then started ranting about naked girls and physical stuff... and that bothered him. He didn't like talking about a girl he'd just met to the brother of the girl herself, and he certainly wasn't about to tell Sebastian that he'd never been kissed like that. And Sebastian seemed to be all about physical appearance, not the inner bits and pieces of a person. However, Duke knew this was partly a cover. Sure, Sebastian had had his share of pretty girlfriends... just remember those two beautiful girls who had flirted with him at Caesario's the past week... but sometimes he just said really deep stuff... the kind of stuff Duke really liked listening to... except when it got a little too feminine.

"You have issues" he told Sebastian.

Andrew was woken up by the sound of a distant alarm. He had light sleep and any sound could make him incapable of falling asleep again. Just great! Practice in the morning and someone didn't know how to set his alarm. And it looked as it came from the room next door.

Now, he knew Duke didn't use alarm... so it must've been Sebastian. And then he heard quick footsteps down the corridor. The guy was certainly lithe to be making such little noise.

Andrew tried to sleep, but he was totally incapable. How could he, being woken up at... three in the morning! Just great! He decided to check on what was going on. Maybe something was wrong with the dude.

He arrived silently at the showers. One was clearly on, he could hear the sound of the water as it hit the floor. He heard a moan of delight and peeked in. The moon shone on the figure under the water and Andrew let his mouth drop, astounded.

It was a girl. And not just any girl. It was Viola, the girl Duke had kissed so passionately at the kissing booth. He couldn't help but stare at her lithe body. She was twirling around while cleaning her hair. Dancing, almost. Andrew held a laugh. And then he saw the clothes... male clothes... and a wig... a wig that certainly looked like Sebastian's hair... and realization hit him hard, almost like a Stonehenge monolith thrown against his face.

Duke hadn't been rooming with Sebastian, but with Viola dressed up as Sebastian. As to why that would happen, he was going to find out. He knew he couldn't tell Duke or Toby. He knew this was important to Viola, seeing as she was taking all this measures not to be found out. Of course, he felt tempted to gossip about why a pretty girl like the one that showered right in front of him would dress up as her brother to get into the rival school. Soccer tactics? Cheating? He didn't think so. There had to be powerful reasons... or at least, personal. One person wouldn't go through so much trouble to just find out how the other team was going to set up the defense and attack... especially the males. And Illyria didn't have a female soccer team.

Andrew returned to his bed, decided to extensively interview 'Sebastian' the next day.

Viola returned to her room, relieved, still feeling the moisture on her skin, how clean her hair was... oh... so great! She absolutely loved the feeling of showering after a long and rough practice. Thing was, practice had long finished by seven pm and she was showering at three am. Bah! What did it matter. She was clean again! She laid her head down on her pillow and fell soundly asleep.

Andrew didn't wait for class. As soon as he had the chance, he asked in hushed tones:

"Why are you here?"

"What do you..."

"Viola, I saw you last night!" he scolded, using her real name.

He saw her cheeks turn red, but she lowered her face.

"And here I thought I could go all the way to the rivalry game without anyone finding out..." she groaned "Okay, so I was captain of the female team at Cornwall, but it got cut... and so I decided to try out for the boys' team. Neither the Coach nor the team, of which my boyfriend was captain, allowed for such a thing to happen. When I returned home from school... my brother was leaving to go to London "she saw Andrew's expression "he wants to be a musician. Anyway, I convinced my best friend to help me become Sebastian, seeing as he wasn't going to immediately take his place here and everybody said we looked so alike in the physical territory. My intention was to beat the Cornwall guys and discover myself. That would prove that there really is no scientific fact about girls being worse than boys at sports"

"Wow... impressive, Viola, very impressive" Andrew whistled in admiration.

He really found this girl to be amazing. I mean, what she had done... the reasons behind it... her decisiveness... she wasn't going to give up soccer and she was going to kick Cornwall's ass. Of course Sebastian had been acting weird. A girl... trying to be a boy... the result was going to result strange, that was a given.

"But now you know..." she smiled sadly.

"What are you talking about? You think I'll turn you in? Really? No way! You've worked really hard to get to where you are. Why would I destroy all your effort? You're my buddy! And... it's also kind of a compensation... I saw you naked..." this was his chance to blush.

"Nah, don't worry"

"One more thing... how did you pull it off at the Carnival?"

"With a little help from my friends" she half sung, grinning.

"And you broke up with your brother's girlfriend? Isn't he going to be pissed about it?"

"Not really" she shrugged "He was always avoiding her, so now he doesn't have to anymore. He just didn't want to call her to say they were done... he was too much of a coward to face BIATCH number 1"

Duke saw Sebastian and Andrew come in talking in muffled voices. Since when did they share secrets? I mean, sure, they did get on well and everything and Andrew did most of the helping with training Sebastian outside practice, but they didn't really talk. That pissed him a little. Sebastian was HIS confident, and he liked to keep it that way.

At practice, he saw Andrew a lot more concerned with Sebastian that was usual. It was like he carefully watched everything he did, preoccupied with possible falls... really, what was going on? Did he need to call a psychiatrist? He shook his head, dumbfounded.

"Hey, dude, what is going on between you and Andrew?" he asked Sebastian that late afternoon, during their one-on-one talks.

"Nothin'" Sebastian answered "He... wanted some girl advice. I mean..." he carefully rephrased "He wanted to ask me advice about problems with girls"

"Really? I always thought Andrew was gay!"

"Urm... I don't know... I mean... he asked... it's not like I can read his mind or anything"

"How are things getting on with Olivia?"

"Well... I thought you liked Viola. But I told you already... you're half way in, you just need a conversation..."

The Viola hiding inside Sebastian was screaming with jealousy. He'd kissed her... really kissed her... and fought another guy partly for testosterone regarding her. What was it with this guy? He was so damn obtuse! What did she have to do, dance naked in front of him?

Duke must've seen the look on Sebastian's face because his eyebrows creased.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope... definitely not. I need to go and get some air"

"Want me to join you?" he offered, seeing his roommate looking a little different.

"No!" Viola bellowed, a little too violently. She saw the hurt in Duke's eyes "see, I sometimes need time to figure out stuff... and that time is usually with my br... sister... so I guess I'll call her"

"Is it anything I can help you with?"

"No" Viola answered as she slammed the door behind her.

A very furious, very angry, very distressed Viola took off her wig, her fake eyebrows and everything that made her look like a boy and sat on the stadium bleachers... without knowing that a severe somebody was eyeing her from behind.

"I knew something wasn't quite right with you" Coach Dinklage said, sitting right at her side.

Viola immediately tensed.

"Don't worry. If you tell me what this is all about... I'll let it pass"

So Viola explained everything to him, how her jerk of a boyfriend had humiliated her in front of everyone by taking back stuff he'd said, how the coach at Cornwall had plainly discriminated them based on their gender, how the Carnival had been a total mess...

"I think..." Coach Dinklage stated, softly "That you're one of the strongest people I've met in my life. Not many would've risked it all to do this. And seeing as you're a real football addict and you've done all this just to play... you have my blessing to continue on the team..."

"As a girl or as a boy?"

"We'll see. Does Orsino know?"

"Only Andrew knows"

"You might want to tell Orsino before it's put out publicly"

Viola was left thinking of what Coach Dinklage had said. She knew she must tell Duke, she owed it to him... but she didn't know what his reaction would be. Would he be offended? Would he act like Justin? She really didn't know. But she did know that she wanted to tell him. After all... he was her roommate.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER III: Does that make me a lesbian?

Viola knew perfectly well that if she owed an explanation even before than the one she owed Duke, that was to Olivia. She could tell the girl was nuts over her impersonation of Sebastian, but that needed to end right away: she didn't want to let her embarrass herself in front of so many people when she `came out of the closet`. It just wasn't right to let her flirt without knowing, to allow the insinuations grow.

But how the hell could she tell her? Olivia would freak out for many reasons, particularly the one regarding how she'd liked a girl...

Plucking up some courage, she showed up at Olivia's doorstep and knocked on the door. As soon as

Olivia was laying on her bed in her underwear with only a tank top on. The novel she'd picked was surely interesting and she just wasn't in the mood to put on some pants. She'd been thinking about Sebastian... again! Oh, she had it so bad! His smile, the way he moved, and talked, and behaved around her, as if he cared for her but without that stalking quality Malcolm had. And he didn't look once at her rack or her butt when he talked to her. He looked directly into her eyes... those green eyes! So dreamy and fantastic and gorgeous! And his body, so delicate... she was seriously infatuated!

A few knocks on the door caused her to jump up. Praying to the gods for it not to be Malcolm, she grabbed a pair of jeans and went to the door.

She opened it and found him there, making her smile widely. Her heart did a double take.

"Can I come in, please?" his voice came out differently. She was used to a high pitched voice (for a man) but the one that came out of 'Sebastian's' mouth was definitely female... was he pretending to be a girl? Why would he do that?

But she made space for him and he entered the room without even hesitating. He was red in the face. Deeply red in the face. Olivia's hopes climbed up the ladder... finally, was he going to ask her out?

Viola clearly saw Olivia's eyes sparkle and she mentally slapped herself. How could she have been so careless? What was wrong with her? Damn! She started sweating.

"Olivia, I've got something to tell you... it's important that you know... because this is not... I seriously did not want you to find out like this... but seeing as everybody will know by tomorrow afternoon, I figured it would be best to tell you first, seeing as you matter to me and everything..."

Olivia closed her eyes and mentally started to do a happy dance. Viola could even see the moves.

"I'm a girl" Viola blurted out.

Olivia opened her eyes, shocked.

"What... I don't understand" she said, dumbfounded.

And then Viola started taking the fake side burns, eyebrow extensions off... and finally the wig.

Olivia couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her, dressed in the Illyria uniform, in _Sebastian's_ uniform, stood the girl who had saved her at the kissing booth... the one she'd thought she'd seen before... of course! This girl...

"Why?" she demanded, furious.

"I'm Sebastian's twin sister, Viola" she explained "He's currently in London, playing his music. All I told you about him is true. He composes, the lyrics you read were his"

"And why did you pretend to be him?"

"Because" she sighed, and Olivia saw it pained her, too, she saw this girl did not want to hurt her "my soccer team at Cornwall got cut, and the guys wouldn't let me try out for the boys' team... so I decided to impersonate my brother here, at a school where nobody knew him, and beat the Cornwall macho men at the soccer game that's going to take place in two days"

"Wouldn't it have been better to tell me then?" Olivia had her arms folded and her eyebrows creased.

"Look, I know that my reasons don't mean anything to you, but they did to me. It's just that..."

"That you fell for Duke Orsino, didn't you?" Olivia understood "And you wanted to tell him. Does he know?"

"Nope. I wanted to tell you first. You're important to me, as a friend. I really like you, you're sweet and I'm here for you, and that's why I wanted to tell you, not let you find out at the game, or tomorrow, when the whole school finds out. This is girl to girl talk"

"Does this make me a lesbian?" Olivia mused.

"I don't think so... it means that you like sensitive guys. You like the protective type, the one who will always stand by your side and raise you up when you're down"

Olivia visibly relaxed. She didn't have anything against lesbians, but finding out like this would've been, at the very least, traumatic.

She was still a little pissed off, mostly because she was embarrassed at how she'd not noticed how feminine and weird 'Sebastian' could be at certain points in time, but she really felt like Viola deserved a chance. She didn't know her when she started impersonating her brother, and if the motivations that had brought her to do this madness were important to her, and she seemed the kind not to be fazed by a little trouble on the way, if she'd gone through so much just to play soccer (and probably there was something else too involved) then it proved she was an amazing person. She'd handled humiliation, jokes about stuff that probably was offensive to her, being around guys all day, training hard, and rooming with a guy without him finding out what she really was. And the fact that she'd told her about this, that she'd care enough not to let her make a fool of herself anymore than what was permitted by the law of moral sanity, meant she truly deserved a chance.

Duke didn't know where his roommate was. He'd been waiting for him the whole day. Since last night, when Sebastian stormed out of the dorm, he hadn't had the chance to talk to him.

The door started to crack open...


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV: Double Sebastian?

Sebastian pushed the door open and let his trunk drop on the floor with a loud 'thud'.

"Where have you been?" a half angry voice asked from the window.

Sebastian lifted his head to look at his shirtless new roommate. The look he was giving him was certainly intense.

"In London" he answered, grinning.

"Yeah, real funny, Sebastian" the other growled.

"Hey, I promise I was in London!" Sebastian exclaimed, sitting on the corner of the bed as he raised his hands in a calming gesture.

The door cracked open again and a second Sebastian walked inside. He faltered to a stop when he saw the other Sebastian perched on his bed.

"Sebastian, didn't you have a twin _sister_?" Duke carefully phrased.

"I do" the one that had come first answered, without taking his eyes off the impersonation.

"Hi, bro..." a female voice greeted him.

"Vi?" was the loud, incredulous exclamation "What... why... how the hell..."

"Would any of you two care to explain to me what this is about?" Duke was pissed now. He certainly didn't like the look of the situation, which was weird to say the least. Somebody was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

Viola had come into the room feeling ready to tell Duke her real identity. She even had one hand on her wig, prepared to pull it off as soon as she was safe inside the dorm. Her heart bungee-jumped with every step she took. How would Duke take it? She was scared. Really, really afraid of his reaction. It was because of him she was going to come out as Viola in front of the whole school, but she didn't know if he'd appreciate it or hate her for the rest of her miserable life. But she was ready.

And then, as she opened the freaking door, she walked in on a freaking scene. WHAT THE HELL WAS SEBASTIAN DOING? WHY WASN'T HE IN LONDON, DAMMIT!

And of course, this only confused Duke more. How could it not? There were two Sebastians in the same room, one being his friend all week long, the other, coming back from London and claiming to be the real Sebastian.

She had no other choice. She pulled her wig, her side burns and her fake eyebrow extensions off.

Duke's eyes widened. In front of him stood Viola. The real Viola. The girl he'd been subconsciously dreaming about for the last two nights in a row. Not Olivia, but Viola... was she trying to say that she'd been sleeping next to him for about a week and he'd never known? Seriously? And he couldn't help it.

Viola expected many reactions coming from Duke. Anger. Pain. Indignation. Fury. Hurt. Hatred. But never laughter. Oh, yes, Duke was plainly cracking up in front of the Hastings twins... he had tears in his eyes, he doubled over, his ribs seemed to ache, and the laughter didn't seem to end.

"Ehm... Duke? You okay?"

Duke barely registered the question. He just kept remembering stuff. Really, he was laughing at his own stupidity, even though he didn't know if he should be laughing or crying... Of course 'Sebastian' had had tampons... and they had swallowed the excuse that it absorbed blood perfectly, even with the Beckham allusion... of course 'he'd' never wanted to shower with the rest of the guys... oh... and the strange bandage he'd given to 'him' back at the shower room... and the girls' appearance... probably her friends... and MONIQUE! Could this be any more hilarious? Why, yes it could... OLIVIA! Olivia was heads over heels for 'Sebastian'! She was... she was a lesbian?

"Would you quit that?" Viola was beginning to lose her patience.

"What's wrong with him? Is he usually so happy?" Sebastian asked, dumbfounded.

"He's _never_ that happy" she growled.

"Should I call a doctor?"

"No, I think the laughing sickness is receding"

Duke finally looked at her.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but you know I had the entire right to do it" he said, still giggling.

"Yeah, whatever. Now explain, missy" Sebastian looked pretty seriously at her.

"So you went to London on the same day my female soccer team got cut... and when I decided to try out for the boys' team, they blatantly refused. I decided to get into Illyria's team and beat their asses fair and square and then reveal myself"

"You had Paul, Kia and Yvonne to help you out, didn't you?" Sebastian hissed "I knew they had something to do!"

"What's that got to do with anything?" she answered, grinning.

"What are we doing now?"

"Well... Coach knows, so I'll just transfer here... we'll pretend we're twins?" she hopefully said.

Sebastian's eyes widened:

"Are you _daft_? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard from you, Vi!"

"It really is" Duke nodded.

"And what _shall _we do? I'm one of the best chances Illyria's got of beating Cornwall" Viola looked at Duke, defying him to say the opposite. He refused to talk. The situation was looking bad enough by itself, he didn't want to put any more crap into it (and he knew some big crap about what Viola had done). On the other hand, Viola was very important inside the team, not only as a player but because he...she, he corrected himself, often cheered them up more than anybody else.

"She's staying" he decided "I don't think that the Illyria people would even think of telling Cornwall students. She'll be attending class as a girl, and she'll play the match. She can stay a girl here"

Viola smiled at him, and he felt his stomach lurch and jump. She was so pretty...

"Would you quit it, Duke?" Sebastian looked angrily at him "You're melting! Stop staring at my sister, will you?"

After that particularly violent scene, Duke went to the secretary and asked for the transfer papers. They spent the rest of the evening filling it out and at eight at night, they managed to send half of it to Cornwall and leave the other half back with the woman at the information point. Then they settled down at the Pizza Parlor to have dinner while they discussed the different ways they were going to handle it. Game on.


End file.
